Students demand war against poverty
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/11/2009 (6086 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
They came chanting and blowing horns and banging on drums to the steps of the Manitoba legislative building Thursday to demand an end to poverty.
The 300 students from three Winnipeg universities marched with aboriginal groups, unions and social groups as part of co-ordinated events in Brandon and Ontario organized by the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS). Shouting and waving placards, they called on the province to reduce poverty by 25 per cent over five years.
Co-organizer Jonny Sopotiuk, CFS chairperson and student at the University of Manitoba, said the NDP has not done enough to tackle poverty issues despite its decade in power.
Sopotiuk said the province’s All Aboard anti-poverty strategy doesn’t include targets or indicators of success, something essential to gauge whether the strategy is working. Manitoba’s poverty reduction plan was released last May. It includes plans to increase housing, education and training and daycare for kids of low-income parents. It also came with a funding commitment $212 million over the next few years.
Addressing the crowd, Family Services Minister Gord Mackintosh said the province has reduced by half the number of children living in poverty since the NDP came to power, but that more has to be done. The province has also increased the hourly minimum wage each year since 1999.
But the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-Manitoba said Manitoba should adopt a living wage policy. The CCPA said the policy would see employers pay wages sufficient enough to provide the basics to families with children.
bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca